Passing Through (Rosefernverse)
by flootzavut
Summary: Gibbs crosses paths with Kensi en route to Hawaii. Takes place just before "Unexpected". Brief mentions of Deeks and Kate. Part of the Rosefern AU. See my profile for reading order etc :)


_ **KENSI** _

She'd been kind of surprised to find Gibbs asleep on one of the couches in ops when she arrived. Maybe she shouldn't have been. Kate was out in Hawaii, and she'd been close with the DC team. It made sense that they'd want to go visit her, and LA was on the way, sort of.

She sat down on the opposite couch and studied him. It was always interesting to her to see people sleeping - see how their faces changed when they were completely relaxed and unaware. For some reason, she found it comforting... maybe because she had so much trouble letting down her own guard. A sleeping person was strangely relaxing company.

Leaning back into the couch, she took a large gulp of coffee and breathed a sigh of relief. No matter what anyone said about the potential downfalls of caffeine, there was no way she'd forgo her first cup of the day, ever. They wouldn't survive on this job without it. The second mouthful was even better than the first and she shut her eyes for a moment with a sigh of pleasure.

"You know, a good hostess would offer me a cup of that coffee instead of just sitting there staring at me."

She jumped - literally jumped, missed her mouth, and ended up pulling her top away from her chest so the splash of hot coffee wouldn't burn her. At least she hadn't managed to spill an entire cupful down herself, but it wasn't her proudest moment. "I- I-"

He opened his eyes halfway and grinned slowly. At least he looked amused, not offended or creeped out.

"Sorry."

He hitched himself up on one elbow. "Don't apologise, it's a sign of weakness."

"What?"

"Coffee?"

Thoroughly confused and very embarrassed, she went and got him a cup full on autopilot, taking the opportunity to mop up her spill. At least she didn't have to ask how he took it. By the time she crossed back to the couch to hand it to him, he was upright and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Thanks," he murmured, then took a long slurp.

Part of her wanted to find any excuse whatsoever to go do something else, somewhere else - possibly just put a few bullets through the paper heart of a target in the shooting range - but she was also oddly intrigued by this man who reminded her so much of her father. Not to mention that some masochistic part of her wasn't willing to leave anybody with the impression that she was a complete idiot and a klutz.

"So." It wasn't much of a conversation starter, but she had the strong impression from previous encounters that Gibbs wasn't exactly a talkative guy anyway. She had the feeling attempting to engage him with small talk would be utterly pointless.

He looked at her over the rim of his coffee cup, raised his eyebrows as if to say 'So what?' and waited for her to continue.

"So, you en route to Hawaii or...?"

A very small, very quick little smile flickered over his face so fast Kensi almost missed it. "Uh-huh."

"To see Kate?"

He shrugged a shoulder, but the little smile reappeared and stayed.

"You been before?"

He shrugged again, this time illuminating the shrug. "Only on active duty, but yeah. Don't get much sightseein' in the Corps."

Kensi laughed. "Yeah, I can imagine." Her dad had sometimes been deployed to exotic locations, but it had been clear from his anecdotes he'd not exactly gotten to play tourist in the places he visited.

Gibbs took another long swallow of coffee, and then frowned at his empty cup.

"Refill?"

"Please."

Kensi took the time to get herself another, too, then sat opposite Gibbs again. For a while they just sat, drank their coffee, watched one another.

He really did remind Kensi of her father. He had also been comfortable with silence - something she had yet to train into Deeks. And then of course there was the other vital trait that Gibbs shared with Deeks as well as with her dad: making her feel safe.

Kensi blinked a bit against the tears that had suddenly welled up. It was good that she'd finally got closure over her father's death, and had started to make some kind of peace with her mom, but the whole thing was still just a little too fresh to think about without feeling that sting of loss. It had softened over the years, but reopening the case had also opened some old wounds. The emotions were too close to the surface for comfort.

"How you gettin' on?"

She didn't get the impression he was prying, just giving her an opening, if she wanted it. She didn't. She smiled tightly. "I'm... okay."

He nodded, and she was grateful when he didn't press further. "Good."

She relaxed back against the couch and drank the last of her coffee. "God, I needed that."

Gibbs laughed. "Been there. Long week?"

Kensi let her gaze wander up to the gallery as she considered the question. "I... I guess it's been a long month or so," she admitted. "You know, with all the... stuff."

"Mm-hm?"

"Yesterday I actually found myself looking forward to sitting at a desk and doing some paperwork." She shook her head. "That's when you _know_ it's been a bad day." She was immeasurably glad she'd actually managed a decent night's sleep last night.

"How's the caseload?"

"Oh, you know, murder, human trafficking, domestic terrorism..."

"The usual?"

She grinned. "The usual. We can handle it. You guys?"

"Murder mostly. Bit of hacking, espionage, mind games and all that-"

He pulled a face that said exactly what he thought of that, and Kensi had the impression he'd been about to say 'all that shit.'

"Not your favourite part."

He nodded. "And not my favourite people."

"Ah."

He didn't elaborate, just looked off into the distance with a frown on his face. It wasn't particularly surprising, she thought, that Gibbs wasn't keen on the whole mind games and espionage bit. He had too much integrity to be impressed by it, and was too straightforward to want to deal with it.

After a couple of minutes he seemed to shake himself out of the minor funk, and got up for a third cup of coffee, offering Kensi a refill.

"Thanks, but I don't have your iron constitution."

Gibbs chuckled. "Ah, it'll come."

He sat down again and they chatted idly - mostly about cases. Kensi was not at all surprised to find she'd been right that small talk was not his thing, or that he didn't feel the need to fill the silence between bursts of conversation. He was actually okay company even when he was awake.

Eventually he glanced at his watch. "Better get gone - Air Force ain't gonna delay a flight for one old Marine." He got up and straightened his sleep mussed clothes, then held out a hand which she gladly shook.

"Well." She kind of hoped they'd see him round here a bit more often, but she couldn't think of a way to say that without feeling like a complete dork. As well as Gibbs being relaxing company while asleep, it was nice to talk to someone outside the unit without having to be cagey and always thinking about maintaining a cover story. "If you ever need local tips for Hawaii, or Los Angeles, or a lift to your flight, or somewhere to catch a nap-"

She hadn't really intended to add the last option out loud, though she had been thinking it, but she figured Gibbs would take it the right way, and she meant it. "I mean, that couch is pretty comfortable, but..."

He smiled again, a little lopsided but it crinkled the corners of his eyes, then nodded. "I might just take you up on that sometime, Kensi Blye."

She smiled back. "I hope you do."

In the moment of silence, Kensi heard the echo of voices and recognised her partner's among them. "Sounds like Deeks just got back from surfing."

Gibbs made a comic grimace face that made her laugh, and grabbed his bag. "Tell Hetty I'll catch her on my way back."

Kensi grinned and nodded. She was immune to Deeks by now, but she could imagine that someone like Gibbs would not want his ears talked off when he was just about to jump on a military transport. "Gotcha."

She started in the other direction to intercept Deeks, then turned back.

"Agent Gibbs?"

He stopped without protest halfway to the door.

She felt like there was a lot to say, somehow; that she was glad she knew someone else who made her feel safe, that Marines were always welcome in her life, that she hoped he'd stop by another time... There was no way she'd find words for all that in the next thirty seconds, but there was one thing she could say that she knew he'd understand. "_Oo_-rah."

He grinned, stood to attention, and threw her a quick salute. "_Oo_-rah."

Kensi smiled to herself as she watched him walk away, and then there was a snuffling at her ankles as Monty investigated whether she had for some unfathomable reason hidden food in her boots, and Deeks was telling her about the 'totally awesome' wave he caught, and she settled in for the ride as life as usual resumed.


End file.
